Today's Family & Kids Activities in Long Island-Jan 30

January 30, 2013
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Daily activities for kids and the family are abound in Long Island! Whether you want to spend the day with your children at a zoo, a museum, or just outdoors, we've got it all here. Want to see what's going on next weekend or when you have those few days off? Check out the NY Metro Parents' calendar!

Join Long Island's premiere Music-and-Movement program for a Family Jamboree class, featuring instruments, dancing, parachute and dress-up. Space is limited. Please call 516-531-3101 for more information.

Family Center’s Spectrum Support Group offers caregivers mutual support by providing opportunities to meet with others also raising children who are dually diagnosed. To be eligible the child must have a primary Mental Health diagnosis and a secondary Spectrum diagnosis. Groups are facilitated by Parent Advocates, each having their own unique experience raising a child under the Spectrum. While caregivers attend group, respite can be provided to children ages 5-17. Caregivers can attend sessions on the 1st and 3rd Mondays or the 2nd and 4th Mondays at 6:30-8:30pm. RSVP to Miriam 516-485-5914 x 2223
no later than seven days prior to the meeting date.

Long Island's story of work and play comes to life when a farmer, dust flying, rushes to market, a boy swings a baseball bat, a peddler sells fish door to door and a family, wearing their Sunday best, poses for a portrait in their new car. This exhibit features images of early 20th century scenes including Manhasset, Brooklyn, Port Jefferson, Bayville, Setauket, East Hampton, Flushing and Mineola and East Norwich.

Be the first to explore the science of what's eating you in this skin-crawling exhibition. Examine the what, why, when and how of mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, leeches and other parasites known as sanguinivores (creatures that eat blood). Learn why bloodsuckers are important to the ecosystem -- and how to keep them out of your system. Attack of the Bloodsuckers! offer visitors the chance to look a real leech in the mouth;
pull off your socks and test your bug-appealing foot odor;
receive a big hug from a giant, inflating tick;
get itchy and knotty with the life-size game of "Twitcher" — a buggy variation on Twister. The exhibit runs through February 3, 2013.

Want the convenience of a modern gym at a fraction of the price? Check out RetroFitness where the goal is health and fitness and the price is $19.99 per month for life. Classes are starting up now. Childcare is available. The Grand Openinruns through February 13, 2013.

Now there's even more reason for families to plan the weekend around a visit to Nassau County Museum of Art. Learn from a docent-led family walk-through of the exhibition and supervised art activities for the whole family beginning at 1:30pm. Special family guides of the main exhibition are available in the galleries. No reservations needed.

Artists in America surveys 300 years of great American painting rarely seen on Long Island. Its 79 works dating from the early 1700s to the present include history painting, landscape, portraits, still life, and modernist abstraction with significant examples of photography, collage, and other media. Major artists from every era of American art are on view, including John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, John Singer Sargent, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Robert Motherwell and Sol LeWitt. All works in the exhibition are selected from the permanent collections of the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut. The exhibition runs through February 24, 2013.

Now there's even more reason for families to plan the weekend around a visit to Nassau County Museum of Art. Each Sunday the museum offers a docent-led family walk-through of the exhibition and supervised art activities for the whole family beginning at 1:30 p.m. Special family guides of the main exhibition are available in the galleries. Weekends only there is a $2 parking fee. This program runs through February 24, 2013.

East End Arts presents an exhibit featuring the whimsical artwork of painter Barbara Pascal. In this collection of work, Barbara Pascal seems to be summing up a lifetime of personal impressions, as well as revealing her skills as an expressive painter. Runs through March 10, 2013.

In 1913, the American public was introduced to avant-garde European art styles at the International Exhibition of Modern Art, held at the Lexington Avenue Armory and known as the Armory Show. The Armory Show created a sensation; the controversial and radical art displayed there proved to be a watershed in the development of 20th-century American art. Modernizing America: Artists of the Armory Show focuses on American artists who participated in the Armory Show and explores the impact of European Modernism on American art in the early years of the 20th century. Through March 17, 2013.

Throughout the history of art, artists have turned to the observed world as a source of inspiration. This exhibition, drawn entirely from the Museum's Permanent Collection, explores the various realist movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, beginning with the mid-19th century Barbizon movement in France and the concurrent Hudson River School in America, and progressing through later 19th-century realism and 20th-century movements, such as the Ashcan School, American Scene painting, Magic Realism, Photorealism, and East End (Long Island) realism. December 8, 2012-March 24, 2013.

This hands-on exhibit allows families to learn about Jewish life, history, values, traditions and heroes, as well as Israel and the Hebrew language. The interactive displays are designed to transform visitors into participants, offering adults and children a unique opportunity to discover the wonders of Jewish heritage. Through August 31, 2013.

Family Center’s Spectrum Support Group offers caregivers mutual support by providing opportunities to meet with others also raising children who are dually diagnosed. To be eligible the child must have a primary Mental Health diagnosis and a secondary Spectrum diagnosis. Groups are facilitated by Parent Advocates, each having their own unique experience raising a child under the Spectrum. While caregivers attend group, respite can be provided to children ages 5-17. To receive respite, an intake is required. This ensures staff is familiar with the child, making caregiver’s participation more relaxing.
Meetings are held the first and third Monday of each month, except holidays. RSVP Miriam at 516-485-5914 xtn 2223
no later than seven days prior to the meeting date.

Looking for a fun after-school or weekend activity? Does your child want to learn how to make friendship and lanyard bracelets? Kids can make as many bracelets as they want. Each child will also receive a special gift. 15% sibling discount. Please call to reserve your space. You can also book a private play-date(10 or more children needed). Call for more information.

Go behind-the-scenes and see firsthand all that's involved in creating a hospitable environment for the aquarium's residents. And you may get a chance to help feed the clownfish. While the Seal Exhibit is under construction, you can visit them up close and personal on the tour.

Uncover clues to help solve a mystery in the outdoor sculpture collection. Pick up your caper kit at Emily Lowe Gallery, have fun while discovering more about these works, and at the end of the caper return to Emily Lowe Gallery for a prize. For everyone ages 4-9 and their grown-up companions all year-round. The program runs through January 1, 2014.

Kids and their grown up companions can stop in at the Hofstra University Museum's Emily Lowe Gallery, and pick up a backpack. At the end of your tour, return the backpack and each child will receive a small gift from the Museum. The program runs through January 1, 2014.

See the work of 10 skilled sculptors located throughout the scenic 75-acre arboretum on the Garden City campus.
This outdoor installation showcases the talents of Miggy Buck (NY), John Clement (NY), Maria Hall (NY), Ed Haugevik (NY), William King (NY), Anti Liu (NY), Johnny Poux (NY), Kim Radochia (MA), Christopher Saucedo (NY), and Hans Van de Bovenkamp (NY). Works of art encompass use of various materials-steel, bronze, aluminum, concrete and reflective mirrors. These man-made creations are transposed into poetic visual narrations.
The exhibition runs through May 31, 2014.

About Us

NYMetroParents is the parenting division of Davler Media Group and encompasses 9 regional print magazines within the greater NY metro region as well as the website (nymetroparents.com). Following the success of the first NYC parenting resource book, "Big Apple Baby," BIG APPLE PARENT was launched in 1985; it is now the largest publisher of regional parenting content in the United States.

Share your story in the Caring Kids Awards program and be recognized for the giving back that you do. This program celebrates the many good deeds that families do together to teach their children the importance of helping others. 8 families will be recognized win given $500 as a special thank you. Caring Kids Awards.